Everything is 'tablet this' and 'tablet that' these days; where's the love for netbooks? Still there, apparently, and if you're a fan of netbooks, future models could potentially be cheaper than ever before. The secret sauce to less expensive netbooks lies in less expensive mobile processors, and we're not talking about a $5 or $10 savings, either.

Intel this week made public its processor strategy for competing in the low-power micro server market, which the Santa Clara outfit describes as "an emerging type of shared infrastructure server designed for unique data center workloads where many low-power dense servers may be more efficient than fewer, more robust servers." Included in the roadmap is an Atom processor with a sub-10W TDP slated for 2012.

Few would argue that Intel did a great job positioning its Atom processor platform as the de factor standard for netbooks. If you buy a netbook, chances are high it's sporting Intel inside. In the still emerging tablet market, however, Intel has some ground to make up, and pricing could end up holding the chip maker back.

Tablets hold all the sex appeal right now, but when the dust settles, don't expect netbooks to have packed their gear and gone home. On the contrary, netbooks are still thriving and being updated, as is the case with HP's Mini 210 and Mini 110 models. Both of these are receiving a dual-core makeover courtesy of Intel's Atom N570 processor.

You might have already seen netbooks equipped with an Intel Atom N570 processor, but have the two of you been officially introduced? Not until this week, you haven't. We're not sure what's taken Intel so long, but the chip maker decided that now is the right time to announce its latest dual-core Atom N570 processor.

Intel has been hard at work for the last nine months shaking out the bugs on its new Oak Trail platform, and the first working Atom branded silicon is expected to start rolling off the line early next month. Several tablets and netbooks running the 1.5GHz Atom Z670 are expected to launch before the end of March and we can’t wait to see if Atom finally has what it takes to properly drive Windows 7.

If the Taiwan market is any indication, prices may soon come down on dual-core netbooks in the U.S. Netbook prices in Taiwan are on a downwards trend, recently falling to around $340, and some models have gone lower than that. Notebook players say it's a necessary adjustment in order to create some separation with the emerging tablet market, Digitimes reports.

On the surface, asking Intel to manufacture a 16-core Atom processor sounds like an odd request. But that's exactly what Microsoft has done. Not for Windows on the home desktop front, mind you, but for use in servers, ComputerWorld reports.

According to one Microsoft executive, low-power processors like Intel's Atom chip and AMD's Bobcat present a "huge opportunity" to tackle energy consumption woes. Even though these chips weren't really developed with server tasks in mind, they're more energy efficient at some server workloads than Xeon processors, says Dileep Bhandarkar, an engineer with Microsoft's Global Foundation Services

"I think Intel is going to have to do it at some point. We're seeing more of the ARM guys going after the server market and just to compete on power performance per watt, Intel is going to have to rely on the Atom CPU," said Linley Gwennap, founder and principal analyst at The Linley Group.

While that's true for ARM, Microsoft is hesitant to move away from x86. Bhandarkar said Microsoft would consider using ARM-based servers "if ARM can show [Microsoft] enough value over an x86 solution...but there has to be a clear performance benefit."

Intel (along with Nokia) still has big plans for the MeeGo platform, but according to news and rumor site Fudzilla, the world's largest chip maker is developing a customized version of Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) for Atom processors.

Details are pretty sparse at this point, however Fudzilla did say you can expect this new platform to ship sometime in the second quarter of 2011, barring any delays by Google.

Following Gingerbread, Intel will continue to aggressively pursue the tablet market with its Atom line by also working on a special Honeycomb version of Android. This is perhaps more intriguing since it's the first version of Android specifically intended for the tablet space.

Intel’s chip plant in Kiryat Gat, Israel, is about to be upgraded to 22nm production capability, the chip maker said at a news conference. The upgrade will see the company invest around $2.7 billion, including a $210 million grant that was recently approved by the Israeli government. The fab is expected to begin production on 22nm process technology in December, which is in keeping with the late 2011/early 2012 launch of Ivy Bridge processors -- 22nm die shrink of Sandy Bridge. A few months back, Intel announced that it would spend up to $8 billion on similar upgrades to four of its existing plants in Oregon and Arizona and the construction of a new 22nm fab in Oregon.